Is Brevo’s Free Plan Worth It? Full Features Reviewed (2025)
If you’re evaluating Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) for your small business, creator project, or ecommerce store, the free plan is often the first question: “Can I start here and actually do real marketing — or will I quickly need to upgrade?” This article gives a full, data-driven answer. I’ll cover exactly what’s included, the real limits, who should—and shouldn’t—use the free tier, upgrade triggers, practical workarounds, and pro tips so you can decide confidently in 2025.
TL;DR — Quick verdict
Yes — Brevo’s Free plan is worth it for many beginners, bootstrapped small businesses, and developers testing transactional email flows. It’s one of the most feature-rich free plans on the market because it includes automation, forms, and even transactional SMTP access. However, the daily sending cap of 300 emails and certain feature gating (automation advanced features, higher sending volume) mean fast-growing or time-sensitive projects will outgrow it quickly.
What the Brevo Free plan actually includes (2025 — up to date)
Here’s what you get immediately when you sign up for Brevo’s Free plan:
- 300 email sends per day (daily cap; unused sends don’t roll over). This applies to marketing campaigns and transactional SMTP sends.
- Email campaign builder & templates — drag-and-drop editor and prebuilt templates.
- Marketing automation — basic workflows and triggers to build welcome sequences and simple drip campaigns.
- Contact management & segmentation — store contacts and create lists/segments (note: contact limits can vary by plan; free accounts often support thousands of contacts but are constrained by daily send caps and other product rules).
- Transactional SMTP/API access — send transactional emails (order confirmations, password resets) via Brevo’s SMTP relay (300/day on free).
- Forms & landing pages (basic) — signup forms, popups and simple landing pages to capture leads.
- SMS & WhatsApp — available but billed pay-as-you-go (not included free).
- Basic analytics — open/click metrics and campaign reporting.
Sources: Brevo’s own product and help pages list these features and the 300/day free email cap.
The single most important limit: 300 emails per day — what it means in practice
The 300/email-per-day cap is the defining constraint of the free plan. Put simply:
- If you have 3,000 subscribers, a single campaign will reach only the first 300 recipients on the scheduled day — the rest won’t be delivered unless you manually requeue and send across multiple days. That makes the free plan unsuitable for time-sensitive broadcasts.
- For transactional use (order confirmations, confirmation emails), the cap is enough for very small stores or testing—but not for active ecommerce operations with dozens of daily orders.
- The free plan is far better for: testing, building automation, capturing first subscribers, and learning the platform — not for mass promotions on day one.
Practical rule of thumb: If your campaign audience is under ~300 active recipients per day (e.g., segmented VIPs, early beta users, or internal testing), the free plan works well. If you need to reach your full list in one blast, upgrade.
Who should use the Free plan — and who should skip it
Good fit
- Hobbyists, new creators, bootstrapped solopreneurs.
- Startups in early beta testing that need transactional email + basic automations.
- Agencies/developers testing Brevo’s API, SMTP or automation before committing.
- Micro ecommerce stores with low daily order volume or highly segmented campaigns.
Not a fit
- Growing ecommerce brands that need to send thousands of emails to different segments at once.
- Businesses running time-sensitive launches or flash sales (free plan forces multi-day sends).
- Companies that require advanced automation (complex branching) or dedicated IP options immediately.
Comparison: Free plan vs Starter/Business — what you get when you pay
Below is a short comparison table to clarify upgrade value (based on Brevo pricing & features page):
| Feature | Free | Starter / Lite | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email sends per day/month | 300/day | Monthly quota (no daily cap) | Higher monthly quota + advanced features |
| Automation | Basic | Full automations | Advanced automation, multi-channel triggers |
| Transactional email | 300/day via SMTP | Included, higher quota | Included, dedicated options |
| No branding | No (Brevo branding) | Remove Brevo branding | Remove branding & advanced support |
| Support | Community/help center | Email support | Priority support & onboarding |
| CRM & advanced features | Basic | Improved | Full access |
(Always check Brevo’s pricing page for exact numbers; Brevo updates plans periodically.)
Real-world use cases for the Free plan (tested scenarios)
- New Newsletter Launch
- Launch to 200–300 beta subscribers, deliver a welcome series, and iterate on templates and gating. Free plan handles this end-to-end.
- SaaS Beta Signup Confirmations
- Send signup and onboarding transactional emails (password setup, welcome). If you have <300 daily signups, extremely cost effective.
- Local Business Booking Reminders
- Small clinics or salons with limited daily bookings can use free SMTP for confirmations and reminders.
- Developer Testing
- Test API integrations, webhook flows, and sending before moving to paid plans.
Caveat: for larger lists or stores you’ll want the Starter or Business plan quickly—Brevo’s paid tiers remove the daily cap and unlock automation power.
Pros & cons of the Free plan — candid assessment
Pros
- Very generous feature set for free: automation, forms, SMTP, and templates.
- Hands-on deliverability & reputation powering free SMTP (good deliverability for small volumes).
- Low barrier to entry — no credit card to start, easy onboarding.
Cons
- 300/day cap severely limits campaign cadence and time-sensitive sends.
- Some advanced automations and high-volume features are behind paid plans.
- If your list grows organically, you’ll outgrow the free plan quickly and need an upgrade for efficiency.
Workarounds & tactics to get the most from the Free plan
If you want to maximize the free tier before upgrading, try these practical tactics:
- Segment ruthlessly. Send only to your most engaged 300 recipients per day (VIPs, recent engagers). This keeps sends effective and within limits.
- Stagger broadcasts. For large lists, schedule a campaign and use the requeue option over multiple days—only for non time-sensitive content.
- Prioritize automations. Automations (welcome, confirmation, abandoned-cart for small stores) can deliver outsized ROI even with the daily cap. Focus on flows rather than mass campaigns.
- Use transactional SMTP smartly. Route critical transactional messages through Brevo and marketing sends through another tool if needed (not ideal long-term, but workable during migration/testing).
When to upgrade — concrete triggers
You should move to a paid plan if any of the following happens:
- You regularly need to send >300 marketing or transactional emails per day.
- You run time-sensitive campaigns or launches.
- You need multi-channel automation at scale (SMS, WhatsApp integrated into workflows).
- You want priority support, higher deliverability guarantees, or dedicated sending IP.
- You want to remove Brevo branding and access advanced analytics.
Upgrading early for automation and monthly quota flexibility often saves time and avoids workaround overhead.
Deliverability note — free plans & inbox placement
Brevo invests in deliverability for all customers, including free users. That said, free accounts are still subject to the same inbox filters and engagement signals. Keep best practices to avoid spam folders: authenticate your domain (SPF/DKIM), keep list hygiene, and send relevant content. Brevo’s free SMTP uses reputable IPs which helps small senders; for large senders consider warming or dedicated options.
Pricing reminder — where to check current plan costs
Brevo updates plans and promotions frequently. Refer to Brevo’s official pricing page for the latest plan names, monthly quotas, and promos (e.g., seasonal discounts or Black Friday offers). I used Brevo’s official product and pricing pages to confirm feature availability and the 300/day cap.
Final recommendation
If you’re launching, testing, or running a low-volume site, start with Brevo’s Free plan. Use the platform to build automations, test deliverability, and capture your first subscribers. But treat it as a starting point — plan to upgrade once you need to reach larger audiences in a single campaign or require advanced automation and support. For most small businesses, Brevo offers an excellent path from zero to scalable email + SMS workflows without an immediate large investment.
By a 10-year veteran content marketer & email strategist
